Rockabilly , Psychobilly and everything in between.

Rhythm Bomb

The Kokomo Kings – Too Good to Stay Away From

Rhythm Bomb – RBR5848 [2017]

Too Good To Stay Away From – The River Turned To Steam – The River Turned To Steam – I Can’t Go Home Looking Like This – She’s Stealin’ Candy – Pillow Of Gold – When I Tried To Think – Girl From The Moon – I’m Your Plumber – Silicone Brain – Standing In The Cold Rain – A Wasted Day Is Forever Lost – You Need A Little Dirt (To Make The Grass Green)

Our favorite bluesmen from Scandinavia aka The Kokomo Kings are back, not only with a new album but also with a new singer since Harmonica Sam more or less retired from the road. But don’t worry, the new boy Martin Abrahamsson perfectly fills the void and Sam is still present on this this album, singing three songs and playing harmonica too.

Well, what can I say about this band that you don’t already know ? The twelve songs, all originals written by bassman Magnus Lanshammarn, are all excellent with clever lyrics (I’ve seen her picking pockets in the welfare line / Stealing from the poor makes her feel fine / Tonight she’s going out for a special treat / Gonna feed the neighbour’s dog with poisoned meat) or more profound (You make in a day what you spend in a year (…) It doesn’t matter how much you have in the bank, you’ll die when you get too old.)

The music is top notch and groovy as hell, a perfect blend of Louisiana blues, swamp rock, Chicago blues and a dash of Rock’n’roll here and there.
This excellent album comes in a beautiful gatefold sleeve perfectly illustrated by Henrique San.

The Nut Jumpers – Boogie In The Shack

Rhythm Bomb RBR5879 [2018]Woah Oh Ho – Set Me Free – Love Truck – My Pearly Doll – Boogie In The Shack – Pandit – Cʼmon, Cʼmon – Blow Your Top – Catholic Boy – Gonna Stand My Ground – No Good, No Good – Keep A little Place – Nut Jump
The Nut jumpers is a new band formed by well known figures on the rockin’ scene, namely Helen Shadow, Ricky Lee Brawn and Jake Calypso.
Together or separately their names were associated with the Queen B’s, the Blue Ridge Rockets, the Johnson Family, the Big Six, the Stargazers, the Space Cadets, the Shooting Stars, Hot Chickens, Mystery Train and a couple more that I forget right now! Quite a pedigree!
Recorded live, their debut album is everything one could and should expect from a Rock’n’roll album. It’s wild, raw, agressive, threatening, uncompromising and short. No time to lose, it’s a concentrate shot of Rock’n’roll straight to your ears.
Each member penned songs and both Calypso and Shadow sing which brings a lot of styles and variety to the final result.
Calypso’s voice is perfect for that kind of weird stuff and the Rockabilly material. It’s perfectly completed by Shadow’s unique tone that I’m crazy about since I first heard her cover of “I did what I did for Maria” on the Queen B’s album. Talking about signature sound, Ricky’s way of mistreating his snare is also immedately recognizable and provides a solid backbone to all this rockin’ mayhem.

On the more garage side of things, you’ll find “Set me Free”, think about the Kinks meet Billy Childish, and the two instrumentals. “Pandit” has a strong Link Wray/Dick Dale vibe while “Blow Your Top” is the musical equivalent to a locomotive moving full steam ahead with no one to drive or stop it.
Many strange images popped in my mind while listening to this album. The weirdest being generated by Calypso’s My Pearly Doll. I thought “Woah! This is how Buddy Holly would have sounded if he had recorded a tune just after his fatal plane crash.” Sounds creepy? Listen to the song and we’ll talk about that later. Still in the Rockabilly style you’ll find “Catholic Boys”, with slide and a Diddley beat, and “No Good, No Good” with cowbell and a similar riff to Dale Hawkins’ Suzy Q.
There’s also plenty of blues influenced stuff that either reminds of Elmore James or Jimmy reed but with a dirtier sound and a punkish attitude. In betweeen they find time to include a gospel/chain gang song simply backed by handclaps and foostomps a more countryish number with “Keep A Little Place”.
It’s very pleasant and highly enjoyable to have bands like the Nut Jumpers that are here to have fun and don’t give a damn about styles and genres (and purists) and mix them all to create their music. After all that’s how rock’n’roll was born.

Australia’s Benny Peters returns with a brand new album nearly ten years after the excellent Hey Now! Whereas Be Good or Be Gone and Hey Now! had been recorded at Fort Horton with an agregation of the finest Austin musicians,Watch Yourself sees benny return to Australia (Ignition Studio in Melbourne) and some of the Fly-by-niters who play on this platter (Attilio Vecchio: double bass; Andrew Lindsay: drums; Dean Hilson and Alex Howroyd: saxes; James Black: piano) were already present on his debut album back in the early 2000’s.

If you’re looking for fifties sounding Rhythm’n’ blues and Jump Blues, look no further, Peters is one of the very best at this game (and by best I mean there are only two or three bands who actually can seriously compete with him). Everything here is near perfect, the sound – you’d swear you listen to late forties/early fifties recordings – the playing, the arrangements, the songs (all originals) and to top it all, Benny’s voice. The band is tight and has plenty of room to let the talent of each individuality shine.
In addition to the genres already mentionned, the menu is spiced with some hot Rock’n’roll (the Little Richard influenced Crazy Crazy Baby), blues (the Blues is a feeling) and some Be Bop can be heard on the two instrumentals Benny’s Bop and Mina’s Blues (penned by saxman Dean Hilson).

Benny and the Fly-by-niters – the many sides of…

Rhythm Bomb Records RBR 5836 [2016]Straighten up Mama- Two Dollar Woman – Wolfman – Wild Cherry – The Way You Do – Jet Propelled Daddy – Benny’s Bounce – If You Ever Get Lonesome – Party Like Never Before – You Ain’t Puttin’ Out Nothin’ but the Lights – Be Good or Be Gone – She Knocks me Out – Huckle Boogie – Wonder When You’re Coming Home – Hey Now – Tell me Pretty Baby- Let’s Rock and Roll – Hammerhead – Loosen Up – RM Blues

Not only Rhythm Bomb had the good idea to release Benny and the Fly-by-Niters’s brand new album (Watch Yourself), the label also gathered some of the combo’s best sides from their now hard to find previous albums (Jet Propelled Daddy, Be Good or Be Gone, Hey Now) to release a 20 track jump bomb. All killers, no fillers (no wonder if you take a look at the musicians involved, Andrew Lindsay, Matt Farrell, Preston Hubbard, Jonathan Doyle, Murph Motycka, Dean Hinson, Damien Llanes etc.) This compilation is the perfect companion to Benny’s most recent album.

Dave Sisson is not only the singer/guitar player of the high octane rockabilly trio Three Blue Teardrops, he also leads this country and western combo.
A little less western swing tinged, Roadhouse Favorite shows a slight change in the sound of the band aiming at a late 50’s / early 60’s honky tonk sound when Ray Price, Buck Owens and Webb Pierce were kings.
As a consequence you’ll find plenty of fiddle, pedal steel, Don Rich styled telecaster and harmony vocals. Sisson is a terrific songwriter for that kind of Honky Tonk sound, and weepers like Moonbeam and the haunting Down Beneath the Willow with the beautiful contribution of fiddler Katie Schandegg on backing vocals are perfect to give you give goosebumbs. No good country album would be complete without a Waltz. Not only you have one but icing on the cake, it’s a duet between Sisson and Schandegg. One will also find some bluegrass (Are You Missing Me), a bit of Western swing (Too Sad to Stay and much too scared to leave) and a nod to Carl Mann (Hit The Bricks).

The Pringles are a Japanese band made of two lovely ladies (Mei and Yuki) backed by four boys (guitar, double bass and two drummers are credited – a sax can also be heard on some songs) who know their stuff. Mei and Yuki mostly sang in harmonies a set consisting of a majority of covers ranging from Johnny Burnette’s frantic rocker Train Kept A Rollin to John lee Hooker’s Dimples with some Little Richard, Myron Lee, Wynona Carr and Shorty Long in between. Two songs are from the band (Watch Out by Yuki and Rockin’ Like A Man by Mei) and they’re good enough to stand next to these classics without shame and you come to regret they don’t write more stuff, which would make a more personal record. To be honest this record sure won’t change your life, but there’s enough good points to make it a pleasant affair and an excellent party record. A new album is already planned for 2017, so follow this band closely.

When he recorded Elvis Scotty and Bill in July 1954, Sam Phillips probably didn’t know that not only he was writing history but more than 60 years later, folks from all around the world, young and old, would continue to play this music.

Vince and the Sun Boppers are one of those bands who perpetuate the tradition of classic Rockabilly (I don’t like the term authentic, for me as long as it’s played with the heart, whether it’s Big Sandy, Crazy Cavan or the Rockats, it’s authentic) These four cats (Vince Mannino: vocals lead guitar, Francesco Ardito: double bass, Silvio Chiodo: acoustic guitar and John Ziino: drums) come from Sicily but had Rhythm Bomb, their label, told me those songs came from a lost Sun session (I guess there’s a reason why they’re called the Sun Boppers) from 1956 I would easily have believed them.

Everything here sounds period perfect. The rhythm section is top notch with a solid acoustic rhythm guitar, a light double bass – unlike too many bass players Mister Ardito knows that you don’t need to slap on all songs when you have a drummer – that perfectly matches with the drummer who manages to perfectly nail that Jimmy Van Eaton/ WS Holland sound. And of course there’s the voice and the guitar.
All these qualities to serve a bunch of excellent self-penned songs that manage to be both originals and in the tradition. As I said Vince and the Sun Boppers’ main influence is clearly the Sun sound but one can also hear the influence of Texas Rockabilly bands like Sid King and the Five Strings on a tune like Mama Little Chicky. Equally great is “It’s You” with its Jordanaires like backing vocals.

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The Rockabilly Chronicle is a website that focuses on Rockabilly music, from the 50’s til today, as well as western swing, blues, neo-rockabilly, psychobilly, jump blues, honky tonk and even a bit of surf and garage. We thought that the term « Rockabilly » would mean something to the readers and give the general idea but as you can see, you’ll find more than that here.
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